If You're Driving Through Wickford

There is a little intersection in Wickford Village that really throws out-of towners for a loop. You can tell a person is unfamiliar with the road because they stop where there is no stop sign, don’t want to stop where there is a stop sign and aren’t quite sure what to do with the yield sign. Their heads start to swivel back and forth looking from one side to the other with a most bewildered look on the face.

You locals know where this is already, right? At the little bridge where Boston Neck Road, Brown and Phillips Streets all meet in this strange, triangular trap. Making it even more peculiar to the unsuspecting and uninformed driver are the three pedestrian crosswalks smack dab in the triangular intersection.
Brown Street (the street everyone refers to as ‘Main Street”) curves through the village and out over the bridge – there is no yield or stop sign there. The traffic is meant to flow smoothly through so as not to get backed up.

There is a stop sign on Phillips – that means STOP!! It is not fair that those folks have to wait a little bit longer but that is the design, so we live with it. You could actually sit there for quite a while in the summer. Newcomers assume it is like a 3-way stop intersection where everyone takes a turn – but no, not quite. Those people have a look like – Hey! When is it my turn!?? Sorry, you have to wait.

Then there is a yield sign at the end of Boston Neck (right across from Phillips) so you YIELD. If you want to turn right, proceed with caution. If you are trying to cross over to Phillips, TAKE EXTRA CARE. Watch out for the people sick of waiting to turn left onto Brown who could shoot out at you any second, and please, watch out for the pedestrians. They could be coming from literally 6 directions! And they are on vacation so probably a little bon vivant.

With the pedestrians added into the mix, pity the poor guy coming down Brown, uninformed about our quirks, and watch the head swiveling, deer in the headlights thing happen. He’ll stop – Is it my turn? – look around at everyone and then the guy in back of him will hit the horn! Go – you don’t have to stop!

There are actually very few accidents here, as far as I can tell. I think sometimes the unexpected actually makes people more cautious. It is a great little village and we love it just the way it is. Once you learn the rules of our quirky road, it is smooth sailing. And great shopping.